Streets
by Lynne Lewis
Summary: Rick has a long lost daughter that he never knew he had. Kind of the product of the "just looking for a good time" that got him stuck in jail to begin with. plz r&r - rating just in case- ch9 is up forgive me for stalling a bit...internet sucks...
1. Chapter 1

The streets of Cairo were busy this time of day. Street vendors were trying to attract tourists to their booths as the passed by. You could even hear some haggling over the prices of overpriced imitation Egyptian artifacts. There was one girl though, that was a tourist, but wasn't. She blended in with the natives, but then again, stood out like a sore thumb. She knew her way around, knew where she was going, and how to get there, but she was still unsure. She kept an eye out for anything and everything, but still looked as uninterested as possible. She was focused, and completely out of it at the same time, keeping the balance as well as she could.

She walked around the city aimlessly with her hands shoved down in her pockets. She needed to find her father, but she didn't know where to look, and she didn't even know who her mother was. She grew up in the orphanage at Cairo, only knowing her father's name, Rick O'Connell. The records said that he had grown up in the same orphanage, fought with the French Foreign Legion, and was held in the Cairo Prison, for "just looking for a good time." The records also said that he was supposed to have been hanged for said "good time", but was saved by some British broad, bartering for his life so he could lead her to Hamunaptra. They had made it back to Cairo, but it was such a long story that she could barely remember the entire thing or how it ended up.

She looked up from the ground at where she was in the city and realized that she was in a part of town that a young lady probably shouldn't be in, but she shrugged and walked on, keeping her senses alert as best she could. She kept her head down, but kept her ears open for any sign of an ambush, but really wasn't looking where she was going. She ran into an older man, about forty-five, with slightly graying, but still brown hair and blue eyes. He wore the traditional khaki safari get up, and carried a rather large pith helmet in his hands.

"Why, hello darling," the man slurred, reaching for her hand. "Would you care to join me for a drink or two?"

"Seems to me you've already had a couple without me," she replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Ah, but alas, those two will never be able to tell the others that come after that they were drunk in the company of a beautiful lady such as yourself," the man said smiling, proud that he had come up with a witty answer while being buzzed.

She laughed a little at this and when he offered her his arm, she accepted and he led her down the street to the Kasbah that was there.

They walked through the doors and found a booth on the far wall of the establishment and sat down. The man flagged a waitress and ordered a bottle of Bourbon and a glass of champagne for her.

"So, you asked me to drink with you, but you didn't want to know what my name is?" The girl asked curiously.

"Ah, yes, that part just slipped my mind. I'm Jonathan, by the way," he said offering his hand to her to shake.

She took it and replied, "Folks call me Sky."

"I wonder why that is?" Jonathan asked with a bemused look on his face.

"My eyes. I never knew either of my parents, so the people at the orphanage named me because of my eyes. They named me in Arabic, so my official name is Samaa, but I went to the states and needed an English name, so I just translated from Arabic to English." She said as the waitress brought their drinks.

Sky took a drink from her champagne and made a face, to which Jonathan laughed. She poured it out into the bush that was planted beside her and grabbed the bottle of Bourbon that he had ordered and poured a bit into her glass. By now, Jonathan was roaring with laughter, but no one was paying attention.

"Much better," she said when she put the glass down.

"You know that is something that I have never seen before, but it was very funny," he said in between fits of giggles.

"Never did go for the champagne. The bubbles make it taste weird to me," she said as she pulled out a silver pocket watch with her father's name engraved on the inside of the lid. She checked the time, and for a moment her finger lingered on his name, and then she closed the watch and put it back in her pocket. "Listen, Jonathan, I really ought to get going. It was nice meeting you, and thank you for buying me a drink. Maybe we will see each other again," she said as she got up from her chair. Jonathan got up as well, as a polite gentleman, and they shook hands and she walked away, leaving Jonathan with an awful lot of Bourbon whiskey to drink by himself, and a hole in his heart that he hadn't felt before he had met her.


	2. Chapter 2

Sky went back to her hotel room, where she laid down for a few minutes and thought.

"Somehow, I know that he is around here. He has to be, but he probably doesn't even know about me. Come on girl, think. You don't even know what the man looks like. He may not even be in Egypt anymore. D'you think of that one little detail, missy? I think not," she said to herself as she got up and went to the window where she lifted the curtain just enough to see what was outside.

"So there's Jonathan. He was sweet. Half-drunk, but sweet. A tad bit old for me though," she continued as she felt her stomach protest in hunger for a good meal. She hadn't eaten since she had arrived, knowing that she wouldn't eat much anyway until she had made some headway in searching for her father.

"I guess I should go eat something," she mumbled as she grabbed her gun holster that she had thrown on the small coffee table and fastened it around her waist. As she opened the door, she grabbed her cowboy hat from the hat rack in the corner and locked the door and went to the hotel lobby in search of a hot meal.

The stairs down to the ground floor had a great wide banister of polished wood, and Sky decided to have a little fun. She hopped up onto the flat part of the banister and grabbed a book from a nearby shelf and pushed off down the banister. Her left leg was crossed under her right leg as it hung off the side and she opened the book as she raced down, reading the first two or three pages. She was soon very close to the bottom of the stairs and prepared herself for being launched off of the banister.

Sky felt herself leave the banister and unfolded her left leg and hit the ground in the nearly empty lobby running - walking, actually - and kept reading the book. She passed by a couple in their early fifties with a pair of twins that looked to be about five or six.

The twins looked at her in sheer awe, and the 'father' looked quite amused, while the 'mother' looked annoyed. Sky walked smugly past them into the dining area, still reading into the book.

"Granddad, can we do that?" she heard the twins ask their grandfather.

"Maybe. You ought to ask her if she'll teach you how to read and walk at the same time," the grandfather said with a smirk, which earned him a punch in the arm from his wife. "What? What'd I say?" he asked innocently, and then shrugged. He picked his grandchildren up in each arm and hoisted them to his shoulders. "Come on you two, we better go catch up to your grandma," the man said, drawing out the "Grandma" part, poking fun at his wife for finally having grandchildren, making her old.

The woman inadvertently followed Sky into the dining area, and sat down at the table next to her. She had already ordered a sandwich and a cup of coffee.

The dining area was empty except for the woman and Sky, so they talked for a moment.

"You've got some cute grandkids," Sky said lightly.

"Thank you. They are quite a handful, especially when their grandfather is a big kid himself, but I am proud of them nonetheless," the woman said in reply as she nodded in the direction of her husband and grandchildren. "You certainly have some – activities that interest the children. I should hope you don't show them how to do that," she continued.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. If you have a big staircase with a flat banister, they'll figure it out all by themselves," Sky said as she gave a low chuckle. "I truly am sorry for that though, if I'd of known that there were little kids around at the bottom, I wouldn't've done that, probably. But then again," she drifted off as the woman's husband and their charges came and sat down with her.

The woman laughed heartily at this and introduced herself, "Evelyn O'Connell," she offered her hand to Sky.

"Sky," she said, her voice just barely shaking at the familiarity of the woman's surname. _ No freakin' way! This has to be a coincidence or something. There is no way that he is here, and I just happen to be looking for him. No freakin' way!_

"This is my husband Rick, and the twins are Joseph and Angelina," Evelyn continued with the introductions and each person offered their hand in turn for shaking. Sky shook hands with the children, and then went up to shake Rick's hand. She thought as he looked into her blue eyes that she saw Rick's eyes grow big if only for a second, and then they went back to their regular size.

"How do you do?" he asked her.

"I do alright, for a girl back in her home country," she replied with a grin. "Egypt sure has changed since I left ten years ago," she continued as her coffee was brought to her. She thanked the waiter and then turned back to the O'Connell family.

"You said that your name was Sky. Any last name with that?" Rick asked as politely as he could, but Evelyn smacked him anyway. "What? I was just askin'!"

Sky laughed at the little scene, and said, "No It's fine. Really, I don't even know what my last name should be. I just go by Sky. I grew up in the orphanage here, but I never knew my parents. The people at the orphanage named me Samaa, which is Sky in Arabic for my eyes, and that's all I know."

"Well, I guess you haven't had much luck finding either parent, have you," Evelyn said sadly, reaching a hand out to touch her shoulder.

"Naw, when I was eighteen I went to the states, and went where the wind blew and the sun always shone. Sounds a bit romantic, don't it?" She said, snickering at her own words.

"Just a bit. You have any luck with those," Rick asked as he pointed to one of the two guns that hung from her hips.

"A little. Enough to get me and a few good buddies in and out of a few scrapes. I prefer fists though; hand to hand combat. Just something about using your own strength, not just pulling a trigger," she said as she leaned back in her chair to prop her feet up on the table and pulling her hat down over her eyes.

"I understand. The Legion wasn't too keen on fistfights, but we had them anyway. The ones that I were in always made me feel like I had control of the entire world," Rick stated as the waiter brought Sky's sandwich and set the plate down in disgust at the sight of her dirty boots on the table.

She lifted a finger to lift the front of her hat and said in a south Texas accent, "Get the sand outta yar drawers. My boots are clean 'nough." She grabbed the sandwich off of the plate and started eating peacefully.

Rick couldn't help but let out a snort for a laugh, which earned him another punch from his wife.

"So what are ya'll doin' here in the Devil's playground?" Sky asked around a mouthful of sandwich and coffee.

"Well, I was hired by the museum here to go out on a dig in the Valley of the Kings, and we brought our son and his wife, but they were very tired this morning after staying out all night with my brother, Jonathan," Evelyn replied nonchalantly.

Sky nearly spit out her food hearing Jonathan's name.

"Are you alright?" Rick asked.

"Oh, um. Yeah, I'm fine. Just got a piece of bread down the wrong pipe is all. I'm good now." _Ok, so this is really weird. The guy that I had a drink with this afternoon couldn't be this lady's brother. Wait, ok, maybe he could be, which would mean that if the man in front of me IS my father, then that would make that guy my - uncle? I'm so confused right now!_

"Well, anyway, we are entertaining the twins until those two wake up, and by the looks of things, they are going to be sleep all day," Rick said as he took a drink from the cup of coffee that he ordered.

"Yes, and I hope they are ready to get going in the morning so we can get to the dig and get to work."

"Evy, didn't you day that you needed some sort of an assistant or something to help out with this dig? You still haven't found somebody, and Sky seems like she could handle whatever you need to be done," Rick said looking up at Evelyn.

"Yes, you are right Rick. Sky, would you like to come with us? I need someone to help catalogue the artifacts that we find," she said as she leaned in closer to whisper in her ear, "and Rick's eyesight isn't what it used to be, so we could use another set of eyes on a gun, if you get my drift," Evelyn said pointedly.

"I understand. I would like to go, if I am needed."

"Oh, believe me, you will be needed greatly. We will leave around six-thirty in the morning to catch the boat down the Nile, and from the port that we dock in, we will take camels out to the dig."

"Unless the boat blows up like it did the last time, and we have to walk to the nearest village," Rick said jokingly.

"Oooohh," Evelyn said as she punched Rick in the arm yet again.

"I'm thinking of calling the authorities about you abusin' me the way you have. It's not nice," Rick said playfully ducking out of the way and grabbing her around the waist. He pulled her close to him and they kissed and the twins both looked at Sky and said, "Ewwww!"

Sky laughed at them and finished the last of her coffee and stood up. "It was nice to meet ya'll. I think I'll turn in and get some well-deserved sleep before we get goin' in the morning. 'Night," she said as she bowed out of the dining area, nearly running over a man. She turned around and saw that it was Jonathan from earlier and said, "Hey, Jonathan. I thought we would see each other again, but I didn't expect it so soon."


	3. Chapter 3

"Yes, well, after you left I couldn't finish that bottle by myself for some reason. So I wandered around and decided to come here and here you are – talking with my sister and her husband – and my favorite set of twins!"

"Well, they just hired me as Mrs. O'Connell's assistant," Sky replied, a bit nervous now, realizing that she was speaking with her newfound uncle – sort of.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Rick questioned.

"Well, he did buy me a drink earlier, and that's about all I know," she answered quickly, hoping to get out and head back up to her room.

"Oh. Okay, we'll see you in the morning, bright and early, I suppose?"

"Yessir. I'll be waitin'," she said, running a finger down the edge of her hat in a salutation, and turned on her heel, her silver spurs making an eerily deafening sound as she walked away.

"Well I think she's rather crude, but she'll do for what we need," Evelyn said as she and Rick were preparing to get a good night's rest before heading out to the dig site the next morning.

"Isn't that what you said about me after we met the first time?" Rick asked, not looking up from cleaning one of his favorite pistols.

"No. If I remember correctly I said that you were," she said as she tapped the side of her face with a finger, " 'Filthy, rude a complete scoundrel. I don't like him one bit.'"

"And I said, 'Anyone I know?' Yeah, I remember the whole thing. You looked like you were frozen to the ground because of my apparent good looks after getting out of that prison," Rick said as he cocked an eyebrow at her. There was a knock on the door and she playfully slapped his shoulder as she got up to answer the door.

Jonathan peeked his head in and asked, "Can I come in, or should I wait a bit?"

"Yes, you can come in. What is it Jonathan?" Evelyn asked.

"I just thought I would come and talk with you two a bit. My favorite nephew is busy with his own wife, and the twins are asleep," he replied nonchalantly.

"So you are feeling left out again," Rick said as he lay down on the bed with his hands behind his head.

"What? Me? No, no I don't feel left out. I never have. As a matter of fact, I was just going to say that the young lady that you hired today and I are going for a little drink downstairs, at least that's what she said when I saw her in the hallway," Jonathan lied a little. True he had seen Sky in the hallway, but he didn't ask her to accompany him for a drink.

"Well, you shouldn't keep the girl waiting," Evelyn said, knowing something was up.

"Yes, well I guess I shouldn't. See you in the morning," he said, backing out the door.

"Well, that was easy," Evelyn said as she walked back to the bed after closing the door. She climbed up and Rick put a heavy arm around her as she snuggled closer to him.

"Why didn't we think of doing that years ago?" Rick asked.

"I guess the situation never really presented itself," Evelyn responded in a tired voice. "Good night, dear."

"'Night Baby," Rick whispered as he reached back and turned off the lights and planted a soft kiss on her forehead.

Jonathan mentally kicked himself in the shins for letting himself get into that trap. He knew as soon as Rick started talking that he was digging himself a deeper hole to get out of. As Jonathan headed for the bar in the little dining area, he saw an American newspaper in a nearby rack. Just for kicks, he grabbed it as it was the only one left and headed for the bar, ordering a simple draft beer. While he was waiting on his drink, he looked at the front page. Sky's picture was there, with a small article about her. He perused the article with interest, until his beer was set down in front of him.

The headline said, " Sky. One Word Success." The article went on to say that Sky was a rich rancher down in Texas and gave the account of her success, but saying little about her past, or how much her assets totaled. Jonathan thought about this potential prospect as he sipped his beer.

_Should I tell Rick and Evy? I mean, they should know that they hired the richest rancher in Texas to be Evy's assistant. But I guess, if Sky had wanted them to know, she would have told them. I could have some fun with this. Maybe make her pay me to keep quiet about it. _

His thoughts were interrupted by a hard clunk on the bar. He looked down and saw two silver dollars sitting in front of a young lady. Looking further, he realized that it was Sky that was sitting beside him.

"Tequila, make it a double," she said roughly without looking up.

"Having a rough go of it already?" Jonathan asked.

"You could say that," she said looking up at him with blue granite eyes. "Couldn't sleep, so I came down here. Maybe something'll put me to sleep by the time I get back up there."

"Ah, I see," he replied as the bartender set her glass on the table in front of her and took one of the silver dollars.

She took a sip from the glass and swirled the tequila around in her mouth before she swallowed. She let out a satisfied sigh as she set the glass back down on the bar. "I see you've already found out who I am."

"I, uh, I," he stuttered, not quite prepared for this yet. "Would you like me to, you know, keep it to myself?" he asked warily, knowing that she could very well easily kill him if she wanted to.

"I don't care if you blab it to the camels. I figure they'll figure it out eventually anyway. I came out here to kinda get away from all the stuffed jackets and stiff necks. I came out here to maybe find my dad. At least I know his name," she said as she nursed her glass of tequila.

Jonathan wasn't prepared for her nonchalant character either. He had totally expected her to threaten him or at least make a deal with him so he would keep her real identity hidden. "So, so you, you don't want to, you know, kill me to keep it quiet?"

"I might if you don't stop stutterin', boy. Talk straight with me, it'll be the greatest thing you ever do for yourself," she said as she finished her drink and slammed the glass down on the bar. "Gimme another tequila, double!"

The bartender traded her glass for a new one and took the other silver coin, giving her a small smile. She winked at him and turned around to lean back against the bar. Jonathan looked at her with curiosity, noticing a notch cut in her right ear. Thinking quickly, he reached behind her ear and pulled a coin out and held it in front of her to see. She smiled and took the coin and tucked it into her pocket and said, "I guess you were wondering about that," pointing to the notch.

"Yes, actually, I was," he replied a little too quickly, nearly sounding like a small anxious child.

"Well, back at the ranch, I work my own cattle. We vaccinate them for various bugs and we notch their ears to tell us which ones that we have or haven't vaccinated. Well, one particularly ornery calf wasn't gonna have any of it. He was so stirred up we barely even got him in the chute," she chuckled as she took another drink. "Once we finally got him in the chute, he was rolling his head around like crazy, trying to get out and get me. I hit the stupid buzzard in the head with the butt of my gun and stunned him long enough to vaccinate him. After that, we had to notch his ears, and he didn't want to do that. I hit him in the head again, but that didn't do anything but make him madder. So as my name is synonymous with the phrase, 'take life by the horns,' I did just that. I grabbed his nostrils like so," she said as she gave a miniature demonstration with her hands, "and tried to get his ear. I had to get pretty close to him, and he jerked and now I have a notch in my ear. The chunk of skin was on the ground, blood was everywhere and I was pissed off. I took my gun out and put the barrel to the buzzard's head and, well, bang. He was in Cow Hell. Hamburgers and steaks everybody. We finished the herd and now I have a reminder of a crazy calf," she said as she finished off her second double shot of tequila.

"Wow, remind me never to make you mad," Jonathan said as he took an absent-minded swig from his beer.

"Will do. Say, you know Rick O'Connell pretty well, don't you? He doesn't have a twin brother or a cousin or anything does he?" She asked, now curious as to what the man knew about the man that could be her father.

"No, he doesn't have any family except us. You know, Evy, me, Alex and Lin and the twins of course," he replied without a second thought.

"Hmm, how did they meet? I mean Rick and Evelyn?"

"Well, that's a story if I ever heard one, and I was in it. I picked his pocket in a bar and the result was a crazy adventure in the middle of the desert and those to getting together. I brought what I had found in his pocket to Evy and it was a puzzle box of some sort with a map to Hamunaptra in it," he said as he paused for a drink.

"Wait a second. You mean THE Hamunaptra? Seti's place. City of the Dead," she finished by moving her hands in a spooky, hokey way to emphasize the last phrase.

"Exactly. Rick had fought there in the French Foreign Legion and his garrison was wiped out. Somehow he made it back here to Cairo in one piece, alive, and managed to get himself put into prison for, oh what did he get in trouble for?" he asked the air around him as he tried to remember what the Warden had said all those years ago. "Oh yes, 'He was just looking for a good time.' He was going to be hanged and my sister bartered with the Warden for the man's life so he would lead us to Hamunaptra.


	4. Chapter 4

"Really?" Sky asked, now completely interested in the story.

"Yes. The next day, he showed up at the docks at the Giza Port and we set sail for Hamunaptra. One night, Medjai ambushed the boat and it was set on fire and we all bailed out into the Nile. Our group ended up on the right side of the river, but we lost everything. We stopped in the nearest village and stayed the night, got Evy a dress to wear and a few camels and we went on our way."

"Hmm," she said as she mulled over the story she was hearing. The events that she had just heard the account of lined up perfectly with what she had heard of her father at the orphanage. She didn't want to tell anyone yet though. She wanted to ride it out first, kind of hang out in the back of the pack and see where her new journey would take her. "So, how long do you think that it will take us to get to the Valley of the Kings?" she asked out of the blue.

"Oh, two or three days at the least, depending on how many times we stop to rest. Why?"

"I think I'm startin' to feel that tequila now, so I'll go up and hit the sack."

"Oh, well, I suppose I should, too. I mean in my own room, on the other side of the hotel," he stammered nervously.

Sky just laughed at him and offered her arm to him, "Come on buddy. Why don't you escort me to my door, eh?"

"Alright," he said, relieved that he hadn't made her feel awkward. He took her arm and they walked up the stairs to her room in companionable silence.

When they got to the door, she took out her key and was about to put it in the door when she noticed through bleary eyes that the door was already open. She put her key back in her pocket and drew her gun quietly, motioning for Jonathan to be quiet. She paused a moment to back up and used her fingers to count down to one from three.

When she finished her countdown, she kicked in the door and rushed in, scanning the room for anything or anybody out of the ordinary. She saw a shadow jump out the window and ran to it to look down at the street where the shadow had landed. Her eyes met the haunted eyes of the shadow man for a moment and then he was gone, running away down an alley and out of sight.

"Well that was unexpected," Jonathan said as he came into the room. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but the buzzard got away," she said as she turned back to face Jonathan. The wind blew through the open window and toyed with her long hair. Her eyes were no longer bleary or clouded from the alcohol she had consumed just minutes before. "So, I guess I'll see you bright and early in the mornin'," she said as she started walking towards him to show him out the door.

"Oh, um, yes. You will. I'll be there."

"Alright," she said good-naturedly. "You should finish that story on our way out there," she suggested.

"Oh, of course, it would be my pleasure," he said about to leave her door but turned around to say, "I'm sorry about trying to take advantage of your identity like I did down there. I was thinking about it just as you sat down and I didn't have time to finish the thought out. Now I know I wouldn't do something like that to anybody."

"Well, that's a comforting thought, I guess. I wouldn't have tried to bribe you anyway. It's a cowards game, that. Anyway, I don't think anything of it, so you shouldn't either," she said as she shrugged her shoulders in indifference. "I didn't take you to be that shallow anyway."

He looked at her, unsure of what she meant.

"In other words, if I had taken you up on that, I knew that you wouldn't have gone through with it anyway."

"Oh, I see what you mean. You are probably right about that," he said with a smile.

"Alright, well g'night. See you and your folks in the mornin'," she said as she started to close the door.

"G'night," he said through the door. _Something about her reminds me of Rick exactly. She's way too young to be his sister, and as far as I know he never had any other kids,_ he thought to himself as he walked down the hall to his room.

_She's so high above me though. Wait a second! Jonathan, what are you thinking! She's way too young! You're fifty-five, and she's like, what – thirty at the most. She's trying to find her dad. I should help her with that if I can. _

By now Jonathan was already in his room lying on his bed, trying to get some rest before they headed out the next morning. He lay there awake for most of the night, not really thinking about anything in particular, but also thinking about Sky. The way the wind had played with her hair, her granite eyes darkening in clarity when she had turned away from her window. She made him feel on edge, and he wasn't sure he really liked that at all.

Finally after not having any luck with getting to sleep, he got out of the bed and went over to his window. There was a little door to the side that went out to a small balcony outside the wall and he decided that some fresh air would do him good. He opened the door and went outside, taking in the beauty of the Egyptian night sky. He snorted a laugh as he said to himself, "Well, I was just talking to a Sky, and now I'm looking up at one." _Yes, and both of them are quite beautiful tonight. _"Oh, shut up you," he told his brain as he shook his head to dislodge any more thoughts like that that could be lurking the deep dark parts of his mind.

Sky shut the door and turned towards her room. She bent down to the level of the floor to look for any trip wires, but didn't find any. Then she went to her bed and lifted the covers off to check for any snakes or scorpions. Further casing the room, she noticed a small box on the desk. She looked around her before getting out her pocketknife and walking over to the desk.

She picked up the box, testing its weight. It wasn't very heavy so she opened it and put her knife back in her pocket. Inside was a smaller, more ornate, box that had a note with her name on it.

"I don't think I know anyone in Egypt, except those other kids that I grew up with and the orphanage staff. I didn't think they knew I was in town," she mused. She turned the light on brighter so she could see just what she was holding.

On the box in raised silver was a mark. Looking at it closely, her eyes grew big. She put the box down on the table as quickly and gently as she could and then ripped the leather cuff off of her right wrist. She gazed at the tattoo in silver ink there on her arm, and then held it down to the box to compare. The marks were the exact same.

Her shock was interrupted by the sound of a door shutting. Curious, she walked towards the window where the shadow man had jumped out and looked outside. Two balconies to her left, Jonathan was sitting out with his feet propped up on the railing. She smiled and thought, _Yeah, he'll know what this is. He's the Egyptologist's brother anyway._

She brought her head back into her room and grabbed the box and stuffed it into her shirt to keep it safe and to keep both hands free. She opened the little side door that was in her room and walked out onto the balcony and let the door shut a little too loud. Jonathan kind of jumped a little and then saw her. He smiled a little and acknowledged her with a nod of his head.

Sky nodded her head towards him in return and when he had turned away from her, she climbed up on the railing and jumped to the next balcony. She landed without a sound, thanks to a few good Native American friends she had back in the states. She repeated the process again and she was on the balcony next to Jonathan's.

"I thought your room was on the other side of the hotel?" she asked, teasing him.

Jonathan looked up in surprise at her, "How did you- Why did you- Huh?"

Sky just laughed at him and jumped onto his balcony and said, "I gotta talk to you. That guy that was in my room left me a present."

"Oh yeah? What kind of present?" he asked, wondering what it could be that she would need his help with.

Sky turned towards the wall and pulled the box out of her shirt and then turned back towards him to hand him the silver box.

"Oh wow," he breathed. "Ex-boyfriend, maybe?" he joked.

"Naw, nobody I ever dated had that kind of money and wouldn't be in Egypt anyway. It's weird. Look at the lid on it. I have the same mark on my wrist here," she said as she held her arm out to him. The moonlight made the silver mark on her wrist glow eerily.

Jonathan's eyes grew big as he realized what the mark was. Pyramids, an eye and the two kings.

"They match up perfectly, and I don't know what it means. This got slapped on me when I was in the orphanage here, but I don't have any idea why."

"Well, I know what the mark is but I know a guy who could tell you more about it. Rick could help you too, as well as Evy."

"Which way to their room?"

"Let's just go there the normal way. I don't think they would appreciate us jumping from balcony to balcony," Jonathan said as he gave Sky the box back.

She put it back down her shirt and said, "Lead the way, buddy."

Jonathan opened the door to his room and they walked through and back into the hallway of the hotel.


	5. Chapter 5

"So what's this mark mean? You said you kinda knew a little about it," Sky asked as they walked down the hallway of the hotel towards Rick and Evy's room.

"It's the sacred mark of the Medjai. It means you're a warrior for God or something. Rick has the mark, too. At first he didn't believe it, but when he had to fight some ancient curse, he realized his destiny. Ardeth never said anything about females having the sacred mark, so I guess its possible," he said as he knocked on Rick and Evy's door. A moment later, a bleary-eyed Rick O'Connell came to the door in a tank top with his pants undone.

"What do you want Jonathan?" he asked very irritated.

"I need to speak with Evy, Rick. It's rather important," Jonathan said as Evelyn walked up behind Rick.

Putting a gentle but firm hand on Rick's arm, but staring at Jonathan and Sky, she said, "Come on in.

"What's so important that you couldn't wait till morning to ask us about?" Evelyn asked as she led the way into the room.

"Well, technically, it is morning," Sky said under her breath to Jonathan who then looked at the watch on his wrist and rolled his eyes at her.

"We had a little bit of a, ah – what's the word?" Jonathan turned to ask Sky.

"We had a visitor earlier. Or at least I did. After a couple drinks Jonathan walked me to my room and we found that it was open. I busted in and just missed a guy in a dark cloak jump out my window into the alley below. He left this," she said as she held out the box to Evelyn with the arm that had the mark on it. Rick grabbed her arm quickly before she could retract it and studied the silver tattoo.

"Where did you get this?" he asked, his tone quite near menacing.

Sky didn't bat an eye as she explained that the tattoo was given to her when she was five at the orphanage in town. As she told the story, her eyes grew dark and cold as ice, matching the coldness of Rick's own eyes, icicle for icicle.

Evy and Jonathan both noticed the fierce cold between the two and shivered involuntarily as Rick let go of Sky's arm. It stayed where it was though as Evelyn studied the box. "The design on the box matches my tattoo perfectly. Jonathan told me that, you, Rick, have the same mark. Something about sacred Medjai, warriors for God." At this Evelyn took her arm gently and placed it beside the box to examine and compare both marks.

"This wasn't made by machine. There are chisel marks where the design was carved out. It appears to be made from a solid piece of silver, not two pieces with a pin to secure in the back. Did you try to open it?"

"Nope. I didn't think to open it. I guess whoever gave it to me would've wanted me to, though," Sky replied.

"That's the thing. Rick's tattoo is black. Yours is silver. I have a feeling that this box is yours, whether it was in a past life, or now, and whoever had it was returning it to you. We need to go see Ardeth. Please, don't open it until we talk to him first. Trust me. If we don't things could happen that could be hard to fix."

"Ok, I won't open it. I don't believe in all this reincarnation crap anyway. Well, it certainly seems like a great day to start out for the Valley of the Kings," Sky said as she walked towards the window and lifted a curtain with her right hand. The sun caught the silver her tattoo and her eyes turned to white orbs. She just stood there, as if frozen in time.

_Ouch. That kinda hurt. Note to self – keep tattoo out of sun. So now what? Whoa! There's a lot of gold around here. Hieroglyphs on the wall. Ok, so I'm still in Egypt. These people are not dressed very practically though. Dresses are all nearly see-through. And the guys are all wearin' dresses! Ha! That's funny. People are talking in Ancient Egyptian, ok. Wait a second. I can understand them. This usually doesn't happen when that thing gets in the sun. Hmm. I probably shouldn't have drunk that tequila last night. _

Sky came out of her short daze and moved her arm out of the sunlight. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and turned back to the O'Connells.

"Sorry to have disturbed you folks. I'll go get packed up and I'll be ready to go," she said, still trying to brush the image from Ancient Egypt from her mind.

"Oh, no. It's fine. This could be very important. We could find something out there that connects with this," Evelyn said.

Sky put a hand on her wrist to cover up the tattoo as she showed herself out the door.

Rick and Evy looked at Jonathan in confusion to which he just shrugged his shoulders and left out after her. Jogging down the hallway to catch up with Sky, Jonathan noticed that she still had her hand on her wrist. He also noticed a small trail of blood rolling down her right hand.

When he caught up with Sky, she was already at her door trying to get to her key without uncovering her arm.

"Here let me help you," Jonathan said as he placed a hand on her wrist, completely covering the bloody tattoo. To anybody who wasn't really paying attention, they both looked like a distracted couple trying to get in their room after a night of partying.

"Thanks," she mumbled as she reached a bloody hand into her pocket for her key. She opened the door and walked in, nearly dragging Jonathan in with her and shut the door.

"Do you need any help with that," he asked, nodding his head to her wrist as she washed it and her hand off in the sink.

She grimaced a little as it stung, and said, "No, I think I've got it now. Thanks again," she replied as she took a small package from her saddlebags. Opening it, revealed a small medical kit with gauze, painkillers, and needle and thread for stitching.

She took out a small wad of gauze and placed it on her arm, then ripped a shirt that was in the bag and tied the gauze down with ample pressure to stop the bleeding. Walking over to the desk where the box was, she bent down to pick up the leather cuff bracelet she had ripped off to check the similarities between the lid and her tattoo.

"I take it that something like this has happened before," Jonathan asked from the sink where he was washing her blood from his hand.

"Eh, sort of. Every once in a while, I forget about what happens when it gets out in the sun and it will start bleeding. It's no big deal. It'll be fine in a day or so," she replied as she went about packing the rest of her things in her saddlebags.

"I see," he said, drying his hands off on his pants legs. "Is that all you have with you?"

"Yeah, I've always traveled light," she said light heartedly as she grabbed a good-sized canvas bag and put it over her shoulders.

"What's in that, if I may ask?"

"Guns. Lots of them," she said with a toothy grin, and walked out the door, leaving Jonathan weak-kneed and confused.

Sky took the stairs like a normal person would this time and met up with the O'Connell's.

"Sky, I want you to meet the twins' parents. Alex and Lin, this is Sky," Evelyn said when she saw Sky coming down the last couple of steps.

"How do you do?" Sky said in greeting as she firmly shook their hands. _So this is my possible half-brother. Ok,_ she thought, giving each the once-over. She noticed Alex's wrists, _ok so the boy doesn't have the 'mark'. _

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Lin said, drawing Sky out of her thoughts.

"The same to you," she replied with a nod.

"Sky, would you happen to know where Jonathan is?" Evelyn asked.

"I'm right here, dear, sweet, baby sister. I told you you'd always have me, old mum. I've been around all the time and I haven't failed you yet," Jonathan said as he walked up with a backpack.

"Right," Rick said sarcastically as he turned to pick up his own canvas weapons bag and put it on his shoulder. He led the way out the door and around the city to Giza Port.

With tickets in hand, the rather large group stood in line waiting to be let on the boat.

Sky was standing on the outskirts of the group watching the random little kids running around trying to get buyers for their parent's or boss' booths along the pier. She smiled as one cute little boy came walking up to her. She knelt down to his level as he started to speak.

"In my father's booth we have good fruit. The best bananas and apples in the city," the boy said quietly.

"Really? Well, hang on one second," she said as she got up. "How much longer till we board the ship?" she asked Jonathan.

"Oh, I'd say about thirty minutes more," he replied, not really paying attention to anything.

Sky knelt back down and said, "Ok, I have thirty minutes to spare. You'll take me to your booth then?"

The small child nodded excitedly and took her hand with his small one. "I'll be back in a minute, Jonathan," Sky called over her shoulder. The child led her a few feet away from the boat to the booth that was owned by his father, and then the child disappeared to try to lure another customer in.

Sky looked over the produce stand. _True, the kid wasn't lying when he said his daddy had the best produce in the city. _"I need an orange, a couple apples and a few bananas, and," She said as she tapped her cheek with a finger as she browsed the produce. "I need a pineapple, too," she finished and handed the money over to what must have been the child's mother and she handed Sky a paper bag with her fruit selection in it.

Sky thanked the woman, and took a banana out of the bag and peeled it. _Why didn't I eat breakfast? Oh yeah, I remember. I was tending to my stupid tattoo. And Mr. O'Connell wanted to get out as soon as possible. Good banana. Kid wasn't lyin' at all, _she thought as she approached her group, finishing off the banana.

"Where'd you get food?" Jonathan asked, his eyes devouring the last remaining pieces of Sky's banana.

"Don't worry, I got enough for everybody. Here," She said as she handed Jonathan one of the bananas. Alex grabbed an apple and cut it up for the twins and Lin and himself, and Evy took the other apple to share with Rick.

"Thank you, Sky. You didn't have to do that," Evy said.

"Eh, I was hungry, and the kid that came up to me looked like he hadn't had a good meal in a couple days. I figured I'd help everybody out," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Whoa, looks like they're lettin' us on now," she said, pointing to the ticket taker at the dock. The line moved quickly and it wasn't long before the group was settled into their cabins on the boat.


	6. Chapter 6

Sky took the key to her cabin from Rick with a cocky grin and went to go find it. Rick just rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. Jonathan walked up to him and slapped him on the back.

"You know, she acts a lot like you," he said, leaning up against a nearby wall.

"Really? I hadn't noticed," Rick replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"She told me that she was trying to find her father. She never knew him, and she came here to see if she could find him," he said coolly.

"So what are you trying to say? That you think I could be her father? I don't think so. I never knew anything about another kid that I could have sired," Rick said as he stormed off to his own cabin that he shared with Evelyn.

"Hmmm," Jonathan said watching him leave, and shrugged his shoulders as he made his way to his cabin down the same hallway that Sky's was. As he was fiddling with the key in the door, Sky came out the door next to his.

"Oh, Hi. I didn't know you were staying over here. I suppose that's a good thing. You need any help with that?" She asked, pointing to Jonathan's door.

"Well, I just can't seem to get it open. The bugger won't turn," motioning to the doorknob.

"Let's see about it then," she said as she knelt down to look closer at the knob.

"Knock yourself out," he said as he threw his hands up and leaned against the opposite wall.

Sky pulled the key out of the lock and closed an eye to peer into the lock. "Hmm," she said, as she looked closer. She started to hum a tune as she took out her knife and pulled out a long pointed rod. Putting the key back in the lock, she gently shoved the long rod underneath the key, and started fiddling with both. Suddenly there was an audible click as the door unlocked and she smiled, completely satisfied with herself.

"I say, I'd love to know how you did that," Jonathan said as he walked in through the now open door.

"Eh, no. I don't think you could resist the temptation to use it for 'other' purposes," she said as she handed him his backpack that he had set down on the floor.

"You're probably right about that, and that's why we have you," he replied with a smile.

"Listen, I'm going down to the hold. I heard some old broad say there was a library down there. If you need any more help with the door, you know where I'm at," she said as she left the room in search of the ship's hold.

_ She's definitely talented. Room's not bad. I think I'm going to take a nap. I didn't sleep last night at all._ Jonathan thought as he lay down on the bed. An hour passed and the boat left port, and he still couldn't get any sleep, as tired as he was. Another hour passed and he decided _I'm going to go see what everybody else is doing. _Remembering the incident with the door, he shut it, but left it unlocked, and went up on deck.

Rick and Alex were both on deck and Jonathan walked up behind them, slapping both of them on the back, making both of them jump. "You know with your history, you'd think that that wouldn't bother you so much," he joked.

"Haha, very funny," Rick said as he brushed Jonathan's hand off his shoulder.

"Say, Dad, why have you been so tense these past couple of days?" Alex asked.

"What? Me, tense?" he asked pointing towards himself. "No way! I'm fine."

"Right, if you say so Dad," Alex replied, rolling his eyes.

"So where'd Evy and Lin get off to?" Jonathan asked, quickly changing the subject.

"They went down in the hold to the library or something. They'll probably be there all day if we don't go rescue them," Rick said, as if books could be menacing, but no one moved an inch from where they were.

"How old is Sky anyway, Dad?" Alex asked out of the blue.

"Twenty-eight," he said as he looked out onto the Nile.

Alex and Jonathan both looked at Rick strangely, wondering how he knew how old she was.

"It's been twenty-eight years since we made this trip the first time, just me, Evy, and Jon, oh yeah and that smelly warden. I can hardly believe it," Rick said as he looked up from underneath his fedora.

"Dad, I asked you how old Sky was, not how long it'd been since the first time you guys took this trip."

"Oh, right. Um, I don't know. She looks about thirty, why?" Rick asked.

"I was just wondering because Uncle Jon seems to be a bit fond of her. I don't suppose that's too young, do you?"

"Alex, you are not too old yet for your old Uncle to give you a good whooping. I'll put you over my knee right now if I have to," Jonathan exclaimed.

"You'll have to catch me first," Alex said as he ran off, ducking and weaving through the hallways of the boat, and running down the stairs to the hold where the women were.

Jonathan was surprisingly fast, at Alex's heels as the young man ran around the ship. Rick on the other hand, rolled his eyes in exasperation yet again and took off after them at a quick walk.

The scene he came upon in the hold stopped him dead in his tracks. Alex was hiding behind Lin and the twins just as Jonathan rounded the corner and ran into Sky, knocking her over. She in turn punched him across the chin, sending him sprawling. Evy looked around at her family and then at Rick, and mouthed, "Help me!"

"Nope. I think you've got it under control honey," he said as he walked past her and planted a quick kiss on her lips.

"Ooohh," Evelyn said as Rick left the hold. "Oh, Jonathan, get up," she said as she turned to help him up off the floor.

"Alex, I think you probably should take the twins up on deck," Lin said with a wink.

"Right, ok, I'll take them. Come on guys. Maybe we'll see a couple seagulls or something, eh?"

"Ok daddy," Angelina said as she took her father's hand. "Come on Joseph. Let's go see a seagull!" She exclaimed as she grabbed her twin brother's hand, dragging him with her as their father led them up on deck.

Sky walked over to where Jonathan was sprawled out on the floor and extended a hand to help him up. He looked up at her, nursing his jaw where she had punched him, and then he took her hand almost unsure if he should trust her. She pulled his arm up sharply, nearly bringing him completely up off the ground.

"Thanks, I think," he said, still nursing his jaw. Sky flashed a smile and turned to grab the book she had dropped when he knocked her over. The book lie opened on the floor to a random page and as she bent down to pick it up, a cool wind blew through the aisle of books, flipping the pages of the book to the section on Medjai.

"Ok, that was just a little creepy," she said, nearly hesitating to pick up the book. Picking the book up, she quickly became immersed in what the pages had to say. She turned towards Jonathan who quickly moved out of her way and she went to sit down at a nearby table.

"Hey Mrs. O'Connell," she called, trying to get Evy's attention.

"Yes, Sky. What is it?" Evelyn replied as she walked over to the table where Sky was sitting.

"Take a look at this," Sky said as she pointed to a picture of the sacred mark of the Medjai, and then pointed to the next picture, which was the same, but it was in silver.

"Oh my," Evelyn let out in a breath as she held a hand up to her mouth in astonishment. Lin and Jonathan both came over to look at what had grabbed the attention of the two women.

"It says here that the silver mark will bleed if the sunlight hits it. But that the mark hasn't been given in over three thousand years, so my question is how do they know it bleeds?"

"Maybe the last person to have it wrote it down or something," Lin suggested.

"I'm the last person to have it," Sky said. _Dingbat,_ she thought. "I didn't write down anything."

"This gets more interesting the longer it sits out here. We'll meet Ardeth at the village that we stop at tomorrow, and we'll talk with him about it. Keep that book though, it may come in handy," Evelyn said, letting the matter drop like a pin.

Jonathan put a hand on Sky's shoulder as she shut the book. "Buy you a drink?"

"Yeah. I could use one right about now," Sky replied, a bit shell shocked.

Jonathan led her up to the bar and asked, "What do you want?"

"Oh, I don't know. Um, Glenlivit – 12 years old," she said as she browsed the liquor on the shelf. "That sounds fairly good, right about now. Which reminds me, I have bottle of this at the house that should be pretty good by the time I get back," she said as Jonathan paid the bartender for the bottle and poured her a glass. She smiled at him in thanks and grabbed the bottle and took a swig out of it.

"You know, you are unlike any other girl I have ever known," Jonathan said as they moved to a booth on the far side of the bar.

"Yeah, I know. I'm a one of a kind variety," she replied as she took another swig of whiskey. Just then Rick and Alex passed by with the twins.

"Hey Rick, Alex. Have a seat, will you?" Jonathan called to them.

"Naw, we better not. The kids want to see a camel now, so we were going to take them to the animal pens around back.

"Oh, well, don't let the little critters tire you boys out," Sky said as she tipped her hat with the bottle.

Rick smiled courteously and Alex replied, "We won't," with a short laugh and then they left.

"So Sky, you said that you came out here to maybe find your father. Do you have any idea where to start?"

She set the bottle down on the table gently and looked him in the eye. "I have one lead. His name," she said as she pulled out the old pocket watch that she had had ever since she could remember. She opened it and set it on the table in front of Jonathan.

He picked the pocket watch up carefully and looked on the inside of the cover. He blinked a couple of times and looked at it again. "This says Ri- Ri-Rick O-O-O'Conn-O'Connell," he stammered, his hand shaking as he handed her the watch back.

"Yeah, I know. Here, you look like you could use this," she said as she handed him the bottle of liquor.

"Thanks," he nodded and took as big a gulp as he could swallow from the bottle. He gave it back to her, and said, "So, so how do you know that he's your father? I mean you said you never knew him, right?"

"I know. The lady that ran the orphanage told me that when I was dropped off as a newborn, I was wearing this around my neck. I wore it that way till I was ten and I got some different clothes and wore like a normal person would. I kept pestering the lady, trying to figure out why I had it, and whose name this was. She finally got tired of it and told me that he was my father, and that my mother was the Prime Minister's daughter."

"Oh. My. God," he said slowly. _I'm falling for my brother-in-law's daughter! Wait, I just admitted that I'm falling for someone! I'm so confused! _"When are you going to tell him? I mean, don't you think he should know?"

"Yeah, I know. He does have every right to. I'll tell him when the time is right."


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note! First one…**

**Ok so in this chapter there are a couple references to some of my other favorite movies. **

*** = The Blues Brothers**

**** = Robin Hood – Men in Tights**

Jonathan had walked Sky back to her cabin after they shared a few more drinks. Surprisingly, she was walking upright and in a straight line, compared to Jonathan due to the alcohol, and as they stopped at their doors, Sky leaned him up against the wall.

"Please, tell me you left your door unlocked," she said as she rubbed her neck uncomfortably.

"Yes my unlocked is door," he said drunkenly.

"Good," she replied, hoisting him up over her shoulders and carrying him into his room. She laid him as gently as she could onto his bed and turned to walk out.

"Thank you Sky. You're beautiful," and he fell asleep.

She smiled and snorted a little and walked out the door, taking great care to shut it softly for his sake.

_I love watching drunken people. They are hilarious, and Jonathan is a prime example. I'm just glad he left his door unlocked. I don't really feel like being ribbed the entire trip for trying to get his key out of his pocket. I'd never hear the end of it, _she thought as she opened her own door, and slipping inside.

Taking a look around for the first time, she noticed that it was furnished a lot like her hotel room had been. A sink by the door, but it had a larger bed that looked really comfortable. She checked the time on her watch and decided to take a nap and maybe sleep some of the liquor off that she had drunk with Jonathan.

She was sleeping soundly when she heard a knock on the door. Sky jumped out of the bed and grabbed a gun on her way to the door. Opening the door, she was relieved to find that it was Jonathan.

"What? D'you think that I was some bandit or something?" he asked as she let him in her room.

"Can't be too careful these days. Oh and thanks for waking me from a particularly wonderful nap. I'd watch it if I were you, now. I'm not a happy person when I get woken up like that," she said as she placed the gun holsters around her waist.

"Well, I just woke up about ten minutes ago, and checked the time and thought that you would like dinner, but if you are going to be ungrateful, then I could just retract my invitation," he said as he crossed his arms childishly.

"Right, and I'm Albert Einstein," she said as she grabbed her hat and strode past him and out the door.

Jonathan stuck his tongue out at her back.

"I think I can say that I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't retract an invitation to a lady for dinner, at least unless she was just God-awful ugly, which apparently you think I'm not if what you said earlier is anything to go by," she said pointedly as he tried to catch up to her.

"What exactly did I say?" he asked, suddenly nervous, wondering what he could have said.

She stopped and turned to face him and said, "You said, 'You're beautiful.'" She then turned away and walked on, leaving him again weak-kneed and confused.

Sky found herself waiting for Jonathan in the café area. She was perusing the menu that the waiter gave her when she heard someone slide into the booth opposite her. She looked up to find that it was Rick O'Connell.

"Hey," he said casually.

"Is for horses," she said looking back down at the menu, snickering.

"Ok, ok, I probably deserve that," he said with a snort of a laugh, putting his hands up in surrender. "Listen I'm sorry for this morning. I usually don't like being woken up in the middle of the night."

"I don't know many people who do," she said. "We have a little bit more in common than you think. Jonathan just woke me up from a quite pleasant nap."

"What'd you do?" Rick asked, suddenly interested.

"I pulled my gun out. I was a bit irate, but I don't think he took it too hard. He still invited me to dinner," she said with a shrug.

Rick laughed hard and then asked, "I hate to pry, but do you have any leads to who your parents are?"

"Well, I have one, my father's name, but I wouldn't know where to look for him," she quickly tried to dodge his question.

"What's the name? Maybe I can pull a few strings," he replied.

"Ah, that's where you got to. Sky, I was looking all around for you. You up and left me standing there, and I couldn't find you," Jonathan said, interrupting their conversation.

"You know you could have just followed me, right," she replied in a come-on-smart-one voice.

"Yes, well, you know, I just couldn't get my legs going after that last comment you made. I'm quite sure that I never said that," he said stressing the 'that'.

"Sorry, ah what were you saying," Sky said, trying to get out of the situation that would have her tell Rick that she was his long-lost daughter.

"Oh, um. I don't remember, actually. Well, anyway, I'll let you two eat dinner in peace," he said, giving up his seat to Jonathan, who took it from him almost too eagerly.

"What are you going to have?" he asked as the waiter brought him a menu.

"Um, I'm not too hungry right now. I think I'll have white bread, dry and toasted."*

"Well, that doesn't sound very enticing," he replied almost disgusted at her choice of an entrée.

"It's better than sand," she said snickering. To this he nodded in agreement, and ordered a simple ham sandwich. "Listen, I, ah, I want to thank you for saving my hide earlier. Rick started asking who my father was, and well, I wasn't prepared to give him an answer. You kinda stepped in and diverted the conversation. Thanks," she said without looking up at him.

She felt his hand rest on hers for a moment and looked him in the eyes. His smile and the twinkle in his eyes was all he gave her as he took his hand away. She knew that it was his way of saying, "Don't mention it," and she gave him a small, shy smile as the waiter brought their dinner.

"Would you like any jelly or honey with your toast, Ma'am?" the waiter asked.

"No thank you," Sky replied before taking a bite out of her toast.

"So when are you planning to tell him?" Jonathan asked out of the blue.

"I've been thinking about that myself quite a bit. I'm not sure. I thought about doing it tonight, you know, before everybody turned in to bed. I don't know," she said thoughtfully.

"Well it is your decision. You do it when you feel its right."

"Thanks Jonathan. That really means a lot to me. I might as well face the music," she said with a wink.

"By the way, how's your arm?" he inquired.

"It hasn't hurt since this morning, but I haven't checked it. I don't want to run the risk of it bleeding again so I'll probably check it before I hit the sack tonight."

"What the sack ever do to you?" he asked jokingly.

"Not give me enough sleep, that's what it did to me," she replied while waving her toast about.

Rick was walking around on the deck, and found Evelyn sitting at a table, with her nose in a book as usual. She looked up and smiled at him.

"Hey," he said pulling up the chair across from her.

"Hi, yourself. Does something about this whole thing feel familiar, like déjà vu?"

"Oh I don't know. I don't have my guns spread out on the table this time," he replied, looking out on the banks of the Nile.

"Maybe you should. Last time, we had a band of angry Medjai after us and they blew up the boat," she said, placing a hand on his arm.

He turned his face to her and smiled and took her hand in his. "Can you believe it? It's been twenty-eight years."

"Yes I know. It feels like just yesterday I was walking up to that cell that you were in with Jonathan. You really were a filthy scoundrel then. You never really answered my question then."

"What question?" he asked, trying to remember what she had asked.

"Why you kissed me at the prison? Back then you said that you 'were about to be hanged. It seemed like a good idea at the time.' Somehow, I know that wasn't the true answer to that question."

"To be honest, I don't know why I did what I did. True, it did seem like a good idea at the time, but now I know it was. I saw you there, and everything else just disappeared. The warden, the prison bars, the guards, the shackles, your brother, everything disappeared. I couldn't let an opportunity like that pass me by, even if I could just touch your hand, I would have died a fairly happy man. I guess you could say that it was 'love at first sight.'"

"Quite a smoothy. He's definitely a smoothy**," they heard from around the corner. Looking up, they saw Alex leaning up against a stack of grain sacks.

"Oh Alex," Evelyn exclaimed in a fit of laughter. She got up and turned to Rick and whispered, "We'll finish this later," kissing him lightly and left.

Alex took his mother's seat and leaned back, smirking at his father.

"What?" Rick asked Alex.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. Just taking mental notes on how to keep Lin on my side," he said laughing.

"Hello chaps," Jonathan said as he walked up.

Alex waved and Rick looked back and said, "Hey Jonathan. Where's our assistant?"

"Right here, Mr. O'Connell," Sky said coming up from behind Jonathan.

"Why don't you two pull up a chair, eh?" Alex offered. Jonathan disappeared for a moment and then reappeared with two chairs before she could decline.

"Thanks Jonathan, but I think I'd rather stand. I've been sittin' down all day," she said, moving to the railing around the deck to lean on it.

"Well, suit yourself then," he said, suspecting what she was going to do.

"So have you enjoyed the trip so far?" Rick asked.

"Well, the company's been good," Jonathan replied automatically, receiving a 'shut up' look from Rick and Alex.

"I was asking Sky," Rick said as he rolled his eyes. He turned to Sky who was facing the banks of the Nile, with her long, dark hair blowing in the light, night breeze.

"I would have said the same thing," she said over her shoulder. Jonathan smiled at this, and cleared his throat.

"Well, that's good. Are you ready for constant cataloguing with Evy?"

"I suppose so. About as ready as I'll ever be, anyway."

"Um, if you don't mind my asking, how old are you?" This question came from Alex, who looked from his father to Sky and back again.

"Oh, its fine. I'm twenty-seven, will be twenty-eight in about five months. Why?"

"Well, I think my son is trying to get dates in order. He gets that from his mother. It was twenty-eight years ago that Evy, Jonathan and I and a smelly warden made this journey to Hamunaptra. Then two years later he came along," Rick said as he pulled out an empty forty-five cartridge and started fiddling with it.

"Ah, I see. Um, I think there's something that you should know, Rick," she started.

"Oh yeah, and what might that be?" he replied quietly.

"Let me finish. There is something that you should know, but the only way you'll find out what it is, is if you tell me why I have this," she finished as she tossed her watch to him.

_Is this what I think it is? It can't be. No way. I left that with the Prime Minister's daughter, but why would Sky have it, unless… NO! No way. _

He looked at her strangely, and opened it. "Oh. My. God," he gasped as he looked at the name on the inside cover.

"It still works like a charm," she said and paused, "Dad." With that she walked away, leaving Jonathan, Alex, and Rick in shock.


	8. Chapter 8

Rick's jaw dropped to the floor as Sky walked away. Jonathan excused himself and followed her and Alex stared at his father blankly.

"Dad, are you alright?" Alex finally asked.

"No, I'm not alright. I was just introduced to my daughter that I never knew about! How would you feel?" Rick exclaimed as he jumped out of his chair, leaving the watch on the table.

"Shouldn't Mum know about this?"

"Probably, but I'll wait till in the morning. Besides, I don't really know that she's my daughter," he said in denial, his mind thinking up situations that could have made a young woman make herself known to him as his daughter.

"Well, goodnight dad. Be careful," Alex said getting up and going to his own room with Lin.

Rick sat back down, alone, with the pocket watch on the table. He didn't want to touch it, much less look at it. Running a hand over his stress filled face, he sucked in a breath. Finally, he took the watch and put in his own pocket, and made his way to his and Evelyn's room.

Walking in the door to their room, Rick took off his jacket and hung it by the door. He felt long arms wrap around his abdomen and a head rest on his shoulder from behind. He hung his head a little, and turned around to face his wife.

"You know how much I love you dear," Evelyn whispered.

Rick nodded into the top of her head and then kissed it, wrapping his strong arms around her.

"Tell me what's wrong."

"Well, I don't know how to say this, but," he paused, bringing an arm up to scratch the back of his neck. "I have a daughter that I never knew about."

At this Evelyn pulled back to look him in the face and said, "How's that?"

"Well," he started as he pulled the watch out of his pocket. "I left this with her mother one morning and the next day, I was arrested and sentenced to hang, and well, you know the rest of the story."

"One morning? Rick, I know I've never asked you specifically why you were in prison, but I am now. Why were you in the prison that day?"

"I was just looking for a good time. I was in a bar and I saw a pretty face. She wasn't a whore. She was the Prime Minister's daughter. I blew it that time. It was the first time she had ever been in a bar. I bought her a couple drinks and she became my new best friend. She was all over me, and well, you know. I took her back to her place, she insisted that I sneak in with her and well, we had a good time. Apparently her daddy had noticed that she had been out late, and asked her the next morning. Unfortunately, she didn't know how to lie to her old man. She told him everything. That's how I ended up with you," he said with a smile on the last sentence. "Apparently we did a little more than just have a good time. I never knew that I got the girl pregnant."

"That's all I wanted to know, the truth. I still love you, as much as I always have," Evelyn said as she kissed him and closed the door.

Jonathan had followed Sky to where their rooms were and finally caught up with her, trying to get her door open. "Hey there," he said tentatively.

"Oh, Jonathan, I'm not in the mood," she said, turning to him in frustration with the door.

"Having trouble with your own door?"

"A little, I guess," she said quietly. He could tell that she wanted to cry, but knew that she wouldn't let it go until she was safely alone in her room.

"Here, let me try it," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder to pull her away from the door. Inserting the key, he turned it sharply, and the door opened.

"Thank you, yet again for saving my hide. It seems I've become indebted to you," she said, hanging her head.

He took her chin in his hand and brought her head up to look him in the eyes, "You don't have to be embarrassed around me. I understand."

She nodded in acceptance and paused a moment. She studied him, giving him a complete once-over. She noticed things she hadn't before, like his curly brown hair nearly hanging in his ocean blue eyes.

All this time, the two were moving closer and closer together, both of them nearly lost in the others' eyes. Sky smiled and Jonathan said without thinking, "Sky, I am going to kiss you now." Just then the boat rocked to the side, throwing Sky on top of Jonathan and down the hallway.

Somehow, she ended up underneath him and as they tried to get up, she made a kissing face, shaking her head. _So much for that._

Jonathan got up and held out a hand to help her up, but wouldn't look her in the eyes for being embarrassed. She rolled her eyes and said, "I wonder what that was?"

"Well, by the constant rocking back and forth, I'm guessing Rick and Evy are having a very good time right now."

"Ugh, that's my dad, you know, and I don't think just one couple can do that much rockin'."

"Ugh, now you're talking about Alex and Lin! That's my nephew!"

"Well, the first one is your sister," she finished stretching out the 'sister' for emphasis.

"True, true," he replied and then tried to brush the previous conversation off his tongue.

Sky wrapped her arms around herself as if she were cold and leaned up against the wall behind her.

"What's wrong, girl?" he asked unsure if she would tell him.

"I think I'm just afraid that my dad won't accept me after all this time. I don't know why it bothers me. I've done pretty well without him all these years. I don't know why I would be worried about what he thinks now."

"I think its time you show them that newspaper article. You know, the one that I was looking at last night?"

"Yeah, maybe you're right. Do you still have it?"

"Yes ma'am I do. I thought you might need it while we were on our travels," he said leaning up against the opposite wall so that their legs made an 'x' in the hallway.

"Would you go get it? I think I'll just slip it in under the door," she said, not moving.

"Sure thing. Would you care to join me?" he asked, albeit a little embarrassed about earlier, but offering his arm anyway.

Sky cocked her head to the side in thought and then said, "Yeah, sure." She locked her arm in his and they went back down the hallway to their rooms. He opened his door and they went inside.

Jonathan unlinked their arms and dug through his backpack for the newspaper he had swiped off the rack at the hotel, and found it, then handed it to Sky. "Here you go," he said as he started to take off his jacket.

"Jon," she said, shortening his name, "you're the only one here who knows where their room is. I kinda need you to come with."

"Oh, yes of course," he replied putting his jacket back on.

They made their way around the boat till they got to Rick and Evelyn's room. As they approached the door, Sky was shaking her head to attempt to get the sounds coming from behind the door out of her head. She looked over at Jonathan and noticed that he was doing the same thing and started laughing.

"What's so funny?" he whispered, looking at her strangely.

"Look at us, two grown people sneaking around a boat to deliver a newspaper to a couple who are acting like it's their wedding night," she whispered back over her shoulder. "I feel like I'm on a spy mission or doing something that I shouldn't be doing."

"Well, you probably are right on the second one," he whispered to her as he came up beside her. "By the way, why are we whispering?"

"I don't know. You started it," she replied poking him in the stomach.

"Oh, right," he said with a nod.

Sky was slipping the newspaper through the gap under the door when she felt a chill go up her spine. She shook for a moment, and then continued to easily push the paper in.

"Are you alright?" Jonathan asked in her ear.

"Yeah, just a chill," she said turning to him. Their faces were nearly an inch apart, and he broke the moment, taking off his jacket and putting around her shoulders. "Thanks, again," she said as she finished slipping the paper through. They both stood up, and she put her arms through the arms of his jacket.

He looked at her strangely to which she replied, "I don't go for the over the shoulder thing. It falls off too easily."

He nodded in understanding and shoved his hands in his pockets.

_What can I do? What can I do? I don't know what I'm gonna do. Wait! Now I'm starting to think and talk like her! She's just – amazing! And what's great about it is that she isn't related to me or Evy! She's just Rick's daughter. I can't believe I'm falling head over heels for my brother-in-law's daughter!_

"So are you going to be alright, you know, by yourself? I mean, do you need me for anything?" he stammered, looking down at his shoes as they walked along the mostly deserted deck. They stopped at the railing on the port side of the boat.

Sky leaned up against the railing and peered out at the water beneath them. She stayed that way for a few moments, and then looked sideways at him and said, "I think I'll be fine, now," she nodded her head towards his jacket that she was wearing.

He smiled, and awkwardly leaned on the railing beside her. Something made her scoot over a little to him, and he to her. They bumped into each other in the process and smiled at each other, embarrassed and shy, and then turned their faces away.

Sky could feel the slight blush brightening her cheeks, and prayed that Jonathan couldn't see it in the bright moonlight. She put a hand on the railing, fairly close to the place where his hand was, which he placed on hers. She looked down at his hand covering her own and then looked up at him, only to find that he had done the same thing. They smiled again at each other, but this time not really embarrassed or shy.

_Oh my God. I'm falling for my dad's brother-in-law. Thank goodness that he's not my real uncle. Wow. I don't think I've ever felt this good! Except when I kicked that kid in the orphanage._

It was then that Jonathan made his move. He slid closer to her and wrapped his right arm around her waist. Surprised, Sky jumped a little, and then leaned back into him. He could feel the light breeze blowing her long dark hair around, but he didn't mind. He took in her scent as sneakily as he could. She smelled earthy, like an open plain.

"The sky's beautiful tonight," she whispered in a daze.

"Not near as beautiful as the one I'm holding," he said in her ear, and then kissed the top of her head.

Just then, a light flashed across the sky. They both gasped as it came into view, nearly close enough to touch. Sky reached up to it and surprisingly, caught it.

"Ow! That's hot!" she said coolly as she held the small star in her hand. They both stared at it in the palm of her hand in awe.

In a rush, they both heard ancient voices in a language that they didn't understand. Sky turned to face Jonathan's body as the wind picked up, slamming into them.

"Sky! What's happening?" Jonathan yelled over the roaring winds.

"I don't know! This has never happened before," she yelled back as she clung to him with all she had.

"You mean catching a shooting star or the wind?"

"Neither!"


	9. Chapter 9

As soon as the wind blew in, it disappeared, leaving both Jonathan and Sky in a daze. They untangled themselves from each other's grasps and looked around. They were still on the boat, but it was stuck on its side in the bank of the Nile. They looked at each other with wide eyes, and then Sky looked at her hand where the star had been. In its place was a diamond, encased in the purest, hardest silver with hieroglyphics around the edges.

Jonathan took it from her gently and held it up to the moon. "Now that's a diamond! I've never seen one this perfect in my entire life!"

"Jon, I think I am going to," she drifted off, slumping against the railing of the boat. He stuffed the large stone in his pocket and worriedly checked her neck for a pulse. It was there, just barely, but still fighting. He slid an arm underneath her legs and under her back and gently lifted. She weighed less than he thought she did, and he carried her to her room, which was still unlocked.

Kicking in the door, he slipped in and lay her down on the bed. As much as he wanted to stay, he knew that he couldn't and rushed out the door, taking time to grab the key and lock it.

He ran to Rick and Evelyn's room and pounded his fist on the door.

"Rick, Evy! Get up! It's Sky! Something's wrong!" he yelled.

Suddenly, Rick greeted him, as rugged as ever. Again, his pants undone, in a tank top, unshaved and hair slicked back. He also had his 1911 Colt 45 drawn, ready to protect his daughter. "What is it? Is she alright?" he asked gruffly.

"I don't know. She fainted and barely has a pulse, but it's getting stronger. She's in her room," Jonathan answered all of Rick's unspoken questions at once.

Rick took off at a brisk jog around the deck till he got to her room. Trying the door, he cursed, "It's locked."

"Here," Jonathan said as he fished the key out of his pocket.

Rick nodded his silent thanks to him for thinking of his daughter's safety first, and then opened the door.

Seeing Sky on the bed just like he had left her made Jonathan's heart nearly break in two. She hadn't moved except to take off the leather cuff from her wrist, and the makeshift bandage from the morning before.

Rick took two long strides to her bed and knelt down beside it he checked her pulse, it was strong, but surely not near as strong as it usually was. He placed a hand on her forehead and nearly immediately drew it back. Her forehead was scalding hot. "Jonathan, get me a bowl of water and a rag or something," he said without looking up from his daughter's face.

"Rick," came from the door. He looked up to see Evelyn in a nightgown and his jacket. "Will she be alright?"

"I hope so. She's burning up," he replied as Jonathan came back with the water and rag. "What happened?" he asked.

"Well, we were walking around for a little bit and we stopped at the railing where she gave you the watch. A star shot across the sky and she reached up and grabbed it like it was nothing," he paused to dig the diamond out of his pocket. "Then we heard ancient voices that we couldn't understand and a rough wind blew through, and then disappeared. When everything died down, she held this in her hand where the star had been," he finished holding the silver-encased diamond out to them.

Evelyn took the diamond from Jonathan's hands carefully, noting the hieroglyphics all along the edge. "Oh my," she let out in a whisper, as the newspaper that Sky had slipped under the door slipped from under her arm. "This is man made, but how would it have come from a shooting star?"

"I don't know. When everything stopped spinning, I picked it up out of her hand and held it up to the moon to get a better look and she fainted," Jonathan said.

Just then they heard a small cough and all three of them turned to Sky. Her eyes were just now fluttering open. Her face suddenly contorted in pain and she held up her arm with the silver tattoo and it started bleeding, but the sun wasn't anywhere close to shining its golden rays upon the earth.

She coughed again, and tried to sit up to which Rick silently protested, putting a hand on her other arm. Shoving his arm off, she sat up anyway.

"Sky, you need to rest," Evelyn said, backing up her husband.

"Yeah, like I need another hole in the head. I'm fine. I must've hit my head on something when the boat landed in the bank of the Nile," she said, easing herself off the bed. She sat on the edge for a moment and checked her wrist. It was just starting to clot again. "Must've tore the scab on this thing when I took off the bandage," she sighed and arched her back, popping it all the way down from her neck to her hips. Standing up, she went to her saddlebags that she brought and dug out the medical kit again. She fixed the bandage on her wrist and then put the leather cuff on again.

She looked down at herself, noticing that she was still wearing Jonathan's jacket and smirked. She then noticed the newspaper on the floor at Evelyn's feet and spoke up, "Ah, I see you've found my true identity," pointing to the paper.

"What?" Rick asked, raising his voice.

"Ah yes, I found this slipped under our door after you ran after Jonathan. You must have stepped over it," she said as she handed the paper to Rick, who took it and scanned the front article, eyes growing wide in disbelief at first, then pride.

"Why didn't you tell us?" he asked, his eyes pleading with hers.

She stared at him coldly, without emotion for a moment and started in on her story. "I didn't tell you because I wanted an adventure. I wanted a change of scenery."

"Sky, I think he means the entire bit," Jonathan spoke softly from behind her.

"Ok. Same answer. I wanted to find my dad, true. But I didn't want you to automatically accept me just because I was your daughter. I wanted you to accept me because of who I have become, first and foremost. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to prove myself just yet. The reason why I came out here from Texas was to find adventure. I wanted to see my old country, see what kind of thrill I could dig up. The biggest thrill there is in Texas is getting a notch cut out of your own ear when you're trying to notch the calf's ear," she said pointing to her right ear, and walked out the door, leaving Rick, Evelyn and Jonathan in various states of confusion.

Sky walked around with her hands shoved deep in the pockets of Jonathan's jacket that she still wore. She noticed the ship's captain was sitting at a nearby table, rubbing his forehead stressfully. Pulling up a nearby chair with its back to the table, she sat down, with her arms resting on the back of the chair.

"I noticed we ran ashore earlier. How far are we from the village we were going to stop at?"

"Oh, twenty miles by land at the most. It would be hard to go that distance in the heat, especially by yourself. You are part of the O'Connell team, are you not?"

"Yes, I am. I'm Mrs. O'Connell's assistant," she replied, flashing a smile.

"Well, we should be well on our way by morning. I have sent a messenger to the village already that we would be later than expected."

"Thank you, very much," she said as she stood up. The old man stood politely and they shook hands and she meandered her way back to her group.

"Jonathan, why was she wearing your jacket?" Rick said as Sky approached her room. She ducked down out sight and sneaked along the wall that her room was on. _Apparently, they thought I would be back._

"She was out cold and I didn't want her to freeze while I carried her in here," she heard Jonathan say, defending himself.

"Somehow I don't believe that very much," Rick said, annoyance creeping into his voice.

"Children," she heard Evelyn come into the discussion. "She is a woman now, as I'm sure Jonathan's quite aware of this. She does have her own life back in the States," she pointed to the newspaper article lying on the bed. "She has done quite well without you dear," she said pointedly.

"Evy, I can't just let her do whatever. I never new about her until now," Rick exclaimed. "I don't care how well she's done without me. She is still my daughter," he sat down with his head in his hands. "She's still my baby girl," he whispered, fighting back the tears that were threatening to fall. Evelyn came and sat down beside him and put an arm around his shoulders, comforting him more than she knew.

At this, Sky choked back a few tears herself. She had never been called 'baby girl,' by anybody else but one old boyfriend, and she had punched him for that. She couldn't hold them all back though. One, lone tear fell to her wrist and managed to work its way down to her tattoo. It hurt a little, but she was glad for the pain. It would take her mind off of seeing her father crying.

"Rick, me and Sky snuck over to your room and slipped that article under your door so that you would find it. She was cold, and our faces were about an inch apart. I slipped my jacket around her shoulders. When she was done putting that paper under your door, she slipped her arms in the sleeves," Jonathan said as he remembered the events of a few hours ago.

Rick looked up from his hands at Jonathan expectantly. "We walked around and then we stopped at that railing and it was a bit awkward for a while, but it wasn't bad. We just stood there; bumping each other's hands like two teenagers on their first date. I finally pulled her close to me and we stood there watching the bank of the Nile. She felt comfortable, and then that whole thing with the shooting star happened," he finished, shrugging his shoulders and putting his hands in his pockets.

Sky remained where she was. She could see everything she needed to with the help of a mirror that she found lying around. She saw Jonathan look right at her, and knew that he had seen her, but she didn't mind. She smiled and he nodded his head slightly and turned away.

"I'm sorry, Jonathan, but I don't approve of you falling head over heels for my daughter. I know that it wouldn't be entirely bad, but I still don't approve," Rick said finally standing up. "I would appreciate it if you kept your eyes and hands off of her," he finished, resting a heavy hand on Jonathan's shoulder.

"I- uh, I understand, Rick," he stuttered and turned away from him.

Sky saw her chance to pay Jonathan back and put the small mirror the chest pocket of his jacket as she stood up. She started to stamp her feet on the wood deck softly at first and getting louder as if she was getting closer to the door and then she started walking to the room.

Hearing her footsteps, Rick, Evy and Jonathan all regained their composure, and as Sky came around the corner to the door, they kind of smiled at her weakly.

"Sky, I would like it if you and Jonathan stopped seeing each other," Rick said after a few silent moments.

"I see," she started, grabbing her canvas gun bag. She slammed it down on the table in the room, startling everyone else in the room. She unbuckled each strap mechanically, smoothly, and forcefully pushed open the bag. It unrolled easily, revealing several sticks of high-powered dynamite, some of her favorite guns, including a Thomson sub-machine gun, a Walther P-38 and a short, hand shotgun, and plenty of ammunition to supply a small army.

Rick's eyes grew big, remembering a time when he did the exact same thing.

_He slammed his gun bag on the table in front of Evelyn Carnahan. She had been reading some book when he did this and she jumped nearly out of her chair. _

_ "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," he said in a kind of fake apology._

_ "The only thing that scares me Mr. O'Connell, are your manners," she replied shortly, kind of waving her book around._

_ He took in a short breath and said, "Still angry about that kiss, huh?"_

_ "If you call that a kiss," she retorted, her wit still in tact. _

_ He narrowed his eyes as if accepting the challenge hidden behind her words, and unrolled his gun bag to reveal sides, lined with shotgun shells, both side arms, a shotgun in various pieces securely attached, and other various firearms. Sitting down he proceeded to take out his side arms and load them with ammunition._

_ "Um, did I miss something? Are we- are we going into battle," she asked, her eyes wide with excitement as she looked over the guns that were securely attached to the bag. _

_ "Lady, there's something out there, something underneath that sand," he said a he placed a gun in the holster under his arm. He then took out the shotgun pieces and started to clean them, putting them together slowly and meticulously. _

_ "Yes, well I'm hoping to find a certain artifact. A book, actually. My brother thinks there's treasure," she said still looking over the weapons in front of her. She paused a moment to pick up a curved piece of metal with a ring at the bottom and look at it strangely. "Well, what do you think's out there?"_

_ "In a word, Evil. The Bedouin and the Tuaregs believe that Hamunaptra is cursed," he said taking the finger hook from her hand and placing it back where it came from. _

_ "Oh look I don't believe in fairy tales and hokum, Mr. O'Connell, but I do believe that one of the most famous books in history is buried there. The Book of Amun-Ra. It contains within it all of the secret incantations of the Old Kingdom, its what first interested me in Egypt when I was a child. Its why came here, sort of a life's pursuit."_

"_And the fact that they say it's made out of pure gold makes no never-mind to you," he finished, surprising her a little. "Right?" _

_ She smiled and said, "You know your history!"_

_ "I know my treasure," he said as he finished with his shotgun._

_ "Um, by the way, why did you kiss me?" she asked tentatively. _

_ He let out a breath laughing as he grabbed a Colt 1911 and said, "Oh, I was about to be hanged. It seemed like a good idea at the time."_

_ "Oohh," she exclaimed angrily and slammed her book down on the table as she got up and walked away._

_ "What? What'd I say?" he asked, throwing his hands up in an 'I didn't do it' gesture. _

Sky pulled up a chair to the table where she had opened her gun bag on and sat down, unbuckling the Walther P-38 to load it with ammunition, and stuffed it down into the side holster that no one had noticed she was wearing.

"Dear old Dad, I'm twenty-eight. I think I can handle myself," she said, pulling a small pair of glasses from a pouch in the bag. She put them on the bridge of her nose, letting them slide nearly to the end. Looking up from her guns, she stared at Rick over her glasses.

"I noticed," he said, looking at the guns appreciatively. "You know that the cocking mechanism on those Tommy's always jam, right?"

"Yeah, I know. I keep it for, uh, sentimental reasons. It was given to me after I bought my land in Texas."

"Right, well I still don't want you seeing Jonathan," he said, crossing his arms.

"Well, that will be rather hard to do since we are kind of on this expedition together," she said as she pulled the shotgun out and started cleaning it with an old greasy rag.

"You know what I meant! Evy, a little help would be nice?" he pleaded with Evelyn.

"She's your daughter, and besides, I think you can handle it," she said planting a loving peck on his lips.

"Listen, Dad," she said finally taking full control of the conversation as she loaded the shotgun, one shell at a time. Each click echoed in the deafening silence. "I wanted to find you so I would know what kind of blood I came from," she said, slipping the shotgun into the holster on her back underneath Jonathan's jacket. Standing up, she rolled the bag back up, and buckled the straps on it. She turned back to the group and leaned easily back against the table and crossed her ankles and her arms over her chest.

"When I was brought to the orphanage at birth, I was wearing that watch around my neck. I wore it there till I was ten. When I was little, I used to open it up and trace your name with my finger till I fell asleep. There's no tellin' how many times I stayed up all night just tracing my finger around that watch. I wouldn't let anybody else touch it. I believe Jonathan's the first person besides myself that I let touch it.

Anyway, when I was seven, I pestered the lady who ran the orphanage enough to tell me who the man was that had his name engraved on my watch. She said that he was my father. She also told me that my mother was the Prime Minister's daughter. She said that I wasn't supposed to know until I had turned eighteen.

I took that information and a little money that I had earned and pick-pocketed, and bribed the secretary at the records office. She told me who you were. She told me that the Prime Minister had left the country not long after I had been left at the orphanage. Where he took his family to, I never found out. I tried my best to find them, but do you realize how many Mohammed's' are in New York City, San Francisco, or even Miami?

Anyway, I settled in the States, bought my land and cattle, climbed my way up the food chain," she paused, standing up straight. She took her glasses off and slipped them into the bag behind her, and then looked Rick in the eye with cold steel in her own. "I never had anybody but myself. I think I did pretty well with it," she said, her voice seemed acidic to Rick's ears.

"I don't know how you think it's going to work. I found you, and all I want to know is if you are proud of me. I don't know if you think you're going to step in and run my life like you've been there the entire time, but you weren't," Sky continued, moving steadily closer to Rick an Jonathan.

Now she was staring Rick down, face to face, no more than a foot between them. Jonathan was standing with his chin in his hand, thinking, about a foot away from both of them. "I think I'll see whoever I want to see, Dad," she spit out, her voice seething acid as she grabbed Jonathan's hand without breaking the staring contest with her father.

Finally Rick looked down, tears threatening to overflow his tired eyes. "Come on Jon," she said as Jonathan followed her. "Thanks for the memories," she spit over her shoulder as stopped to grab her gun bag and they exited the room.


End file.
